1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat for a child to be used as a chair or a bed for a baby or a child.
2. Background Art
A seat for a child including a reclining mechanism has been conventionally proposed and used. Such a seat for a child, on which a child can sit or lie, can be moved in a room by means of wheels attached to its legs. A height of the seat for a child can be adjusted when, for example, a child is eating. That is, the seat for a child includes a pair of right and left X-shaped legs, each having a front leg member and a rear leg member. The front leg member and the rear leg member are pivotally coupled to each other at their intermediate parts to form an X-shape. By swinging the front leg member and the rear leg member closer to or further away from each other, a height of the seat can be adjusted. In order to facilitate a turning of the seat when it is moved in a room, turnable wheels are attached to lower ends of, in particular, front leg members of the X-shaped legs, so that the direction of the seat for a child can be freely changed.
The conventional seat for a child is provided with armrests disposed on right and left sides of the seat. In order to effectively use a space around the seat for a child, each of the armrests has a horizontally pivotable side plate for an article. Thus, one can put articles such as diapers or baby powder containers on the pivoted side plate, when he/she changes diapers of a child on the seat. Such a conventional seat for a child is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2003-24189 and 2003-88451.
However, in an armrest having a larger thickness, an upper surface of a body member of the armrest and an upper surface of the horizontally pivoted side plate might not be flush with each other, due to the use of a conventional hinge mechanism. Such a stepped surface is ill-suited to put an article thereon. In addition, a side surface of the body member and a lower surface of the side plate to be pivoted must be parallel with each other, in order not to from a gap between the upper surface of the body member and the upper surface of the pivoted side plate. However, from a design viewpoint, a seat for a child recently has an armrest whose width is decreased toward a front thereof. A general hinge mechanism cannot be used in such a tapered armrest.